When the Dreads and lone Vanguard returned to the ship, they discovered that their ship had changed. New crystal formations had appeared on it. Duelo and Parfet had worked like crazy to get the bypasses for the impurities finished, allowing the ship to complete the cleansing. Once it was finished, the ship came back online. Of course, a new friendship seemed to have been forged between the doctor and the engineer.
At the moment, everyone was in sickbay where Duelo had finally gotten the results as to why Ezra had fainted.
"It seems that she has a parasitic organism feeding off of her inside her abdominal area," Duelo reported, showing pictures.
"No!" Ezra cried out. "That's not it at all! I…I'm…I'm going to have…a baby."
The reaction was instant from the bridge crew and the others who were in attendance. They all crowded around the new mother-to-be with bright smiles and dozens of questions for her.
"When did you become a Fahma?"
"Who's the Ohma?"
"What are you going to name the baby?"
Meanwhile, Bart scratched his head in confusion, "But I thought that babies were grown in factories."
"Nah," Ranma chuckled. "Women are able to grow babies inside of their bodies. Their bodies were made for it. They just need genetic material to get the process started."
"Intriguing," Duelo nodded. He was always happy to learn about how female bodies worked. This would be an opportunity to see the process from beginning to end.
The three men just continued to crowd around the mother-to-be, congratulating her on her little miracle. Ezra herself was flushed at all the attention and apologizing for hiding it, but they wouldn't hear of it. Even the captain was more than happy for her and the little one she was carrying.
-MEANWHILE-
Parfet sighed as she gave the Vanguard Decade and Dita's Dread examinations. The Vanguard was as weird as ever but nothing was wrong with the Dread. The odd thing was that the components that made the humanoid figure weren't there. It was like they didn't exist. However, the battle data was there.
"How interesting…" Parfet murmured as she read the data. "Guess that Ranma guy really knows how to make the impossible possible."
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Meia wasn't happy. Sure, they'd won, but Ranma's showing off was messing with her Dread team. She needed to show that man up and put him in his place before he got too cocky. Sure, he got along fine with Dita but Meia needed to separate them. Of course, Meia's other problem involved Ranma being able to turn into a woman. While many had heard the rumor, they probably wouldn't know it was Ranma if he walked through the halls as a girl. This was also something confusing since many of the women were just trying to get used to having men around, but a man capable of changing genders was taking them for a loop. It was hard to treat him as a just a man when he turned into a girl.
This was just giving her a headache…
Even Barnette didn't like Ranma, but that was possibly out of jealousy. He was capable of fighting alongside them and pretty powerful with that gear of his. Still, what irked her the most was that he could disguise as one of them perfectly. Aside from his personality, it was impossible to tell that he was really a man when in female form. The thought of a man capable of switching genders disgusted her. It was just so…wrong.
Ranma wasn't new to all the curious looks though. It was just normal with him. He just did things as normal, training his body in the Bio-Park since it had a lot of open space. The place was beautiful since it mimicked an open field and had trees and grass. Truly a wonderful piece of work. There was more than enough space for him to train. The downside was that it brought curious eyes who were trying to figure out if he really could switch genders or not.
"Mr. Alien!" a familiar voice cried out. "I made lunch!"
Ranma blinked at the mention of food and turned to see Dita waving to him. She was certainly a welcome face since she was probably one of the few friendly females on the ship. The fact that she made him lunch under the impression that he had to eat those awful food pills from Tarak made their friendship sweeter. The quickest way to Ranma's friendship was indeed through his stomach.
"Oh, hey Dita," Ranma waved, leaving his stance. Picking up a towel, he walked to a bench where the pair sat down. "You really don't have to cook for me you know. They have a cafeteria filled with food."
"But I like cooking for you!" Dita insisted. "It's fun!"
"Well, if you really don't mind," Ranma shrugged. With that out of the way, he dug into the bento that Dita had created. The friendly redhead just smiled brightly as she enjoyed watching Mr. Alien eat. It made her feel good knowing that he liked her cooking.
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"I haven't seen an organ like this before," Duelo pondered as he looked at images of the baby growing in Ezra's abdomen. "It's not in a man's physiology."
"It's called a uterus," Ezra answered, already achieving that motherly glow.
"Yes, Ranma mentioned that women have a reproductive organ inside of them," Duelo nodded. "Most interesting."
"Well, I wanted to be a Fahma so I decided to carry the seed," Ezra explained. Seeing Duelo's confusion she continued. "When someone wants to have a child, the Oham donates an egg and gets it spliced with the genes of the Fahma. Then it's implanted in the womb of the Fahma. Anyone can be a Fahma where I come from."
"So I can be one too?" asked Duelo.
Ezra sweatdropped before she decided to try and explain it a little better.
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Bart was being made to train in the Navigation Well. Now he actually needed to learn HOW to do it since they'd been lucky the last few times. He was made to train at least 5 hours a day. Ranma didn't pity the blond male. While on the road he pretty much had to train longer and harsher. Compared to him, Bart got off easy.
"Hello, Ranma!" Jura called to the young Rider. Though she, like most of her fellow females, didn't like men, she considered Ranma an exception since he could turn female. Learning from Paiway of how Dita could get close to Ranma through food, Jura was going to try a similar tactic with him.
"Oh, hey, Jura," said Ranma. It took him awhile to learn how to look at her without blushing. Her dress showed off her figure and didn't cover much. He could see parts of her breasts and her toned stomach. The women here sure knew how to keep in shape. "What is it?"
"Well, I saw what you did with your Vanguard and Dita's Dread and I was wondering if we could also do the same," she said. "So, whaddya say?"
Ranma wasn't sure what to say. The thing that happened with Dita's Dread during Final Attack Ride had caught even HIM by surprise. Parfet was examining the Dread as well to find out what had caused the transformation. It was connected to his belt and probably the Paksis too.
Jura wanted her Dread to change into something elegant and cool too. Maybe if she managed to win Ranma over, she could get the desired result. Barnette was with her and just frowned. She didn't like Jura talking to this weird male. His ability to change genders was just so unnatural and went against the law of nature. Of course, there was nothing she could do about it. He was as much as part of the crew as the men. He was useful, for now…
"Gee," Ranma blinked. "Well, it's probably possible. I mean, if it worked for Dita then it might work for you."
"Excellent!" Jura smiled brightly. Grabbing a box from Barnette, she handed it over to the martial artist. "I heard you liked hand cooked meals from Dita so I thought this would make the perfect gift for our new partnership. I made it myself."
Barnette had to work hard to keep her face straight. When Jura hadn't been looking, she had splashed some of the hottest sauce they had. It wasn't the kind of payback she wanted against Ranma, but it would do for now. Besides, just the thought of him red-faced and screaming would be worth seeing.
"Wow thanks!" Ranma grinned as he opened the box. "Hey, it looks good."
"Why thank you!" Jura giggled teasingly. "Give it a taste."
That's what Ranma did. He took a fork and got a big bite of Jura's food. He instantly tasted the hot sauce, but it was nothing to him. He had to deal with Akane's dishes regularly and she put everything from the spicy to the sour in it. Real hot sauce was nothing compared to his first fiancées cooking. With that in mind, Jura's food was pretty good.
"Hey, not bad," Ranma nodded with a grin. "You're a good cook."
"Why thank you!" Jura smiled with a polite laugh. "Just remember to partner up with me in the next battle."
"If I figure it out, I'll probably partner with you sooner or later," Ranma nodded. He then walked past the pair with the food. "Thanks for the grub."
"Well that was easy," Jura smiled as she watched Ranma leave. She then turned to her friend. "Now, let's go see Parfet to find out the secret."
Barnette was gawking. She had added hot sauce and the male had walked off unfazed! He should have his tongue on fire after the first bite! Who was this guy?
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Ranma had to admit that Jura knew how to cook. That hot sauce was a pretty nice touch. Otherwise the meal would be pretty bland. Still, he was iching for some action and wondered when something would the alarm suddenly sounded he got his answer. Ranma acted quickly, knowing that their ghost-like enemy was after them again. He ran towards the hanger and did a quick transformation.
"Henshin!"
Kamen Ride: Decade
When his armor formed, his Vanguard came to life. He quickly launched it out of the hanger to engage the enemy. Once again, he was faced with several Octo-Fighters. Well four large ones anyway. It was nowhere near the sizable attack forces that had attacked them twice before.
"Hm, better end this quick," said Decade. "Henshin!"
Kamen Ride: Caucasus
The Vanguard Decade transformed into Vanguard Caucasus as Decade himself changed into the gold Rider who could move at god speed. Seeing the enemy approaching, Decade-Caucasus activated his next card.
"Take this!"
Attack Ride: Clock Up
Time seemed to stop around the Vanguard and its pilot. Of course, Decade-Caucasus was actually moving too fast for them and was blurring around them. They couldn't catch his movements and in the end they were all destroyed.
The Clock Up ended and Decade reverted to normal as did his Vanguard. Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of him and an irate Meia was staring back at him. "What do you think you're doing!?" Meia demanded.
"My job," said Decade frankly. What was this woman's problem?
"You went out without authorization! You committed a violation!" she shouted.
"Hey, those Octo-Fighter things were heading right for us! I just decided to go and fight them and not waste time with all that technical stuff," retorted Decade.
"You're still just a prisoner!"
"Correction: your captain placed me on the crew," said Decade.
"Are you rolling your eyes at me!?" Meia shouted. This man was disrespectful and infuriating. It was time to teach him a lesson in humility and to listen to his betters. "Hey! Listen to me when-" Decade 'accidentally' shut off the link and whistled. He knew he would get hell later, but he wasn't in the mood for it. He knew that Meia was a good person and just wanted to protect her home and friends on the ship, but her prejudice against men made her really annoying in Decade's eyes.
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BRIDGE…
"He's a loose cannon that won't listen to orders!" Meia complained to Magno as she tried to please her case. "He won't follow the squadron placements and he keeps making Jura and Dita break formation to try that stupid partnership thing with him!"
"Anything else?" Magno asked, knowing that Meia was far from finished in her rant.
"He has no respect for the formations and he barely listens to me! He's always ignoring my orders to fight on his own!" Meia argued. "Plus he's just so…infuriating!"
Meia wasn't kidding either. He didn't have any respect for her authority and disregarded it regularly. Oh sure he'd defeat the enemy, but there were formations and such for a reason. If he was in over his head, who would back him up if he went ahead of the squad? No one would be there until it was too late, that's for sure.
"I admit that he's a character to work with," Magno shrugged. "But the other Dread pilots don't complain about him and Dita seems downright fond of him."
"The other pilots aren't in charge of the squad as a whole!" Meia insisted.
"Point," Magno nodded. "Well, if you're so sure that he's a danger to your squad, then we'll see how a reassignment of duties suits him."
A smirk came over Meia's face.
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"OK, captain, you asked me to come and see you," said Ranma.
"Yes. You're now being reassigned," Magno informed him.
"Reassigned? To where?" Ranma questioned.
Magno held up a data pad. Meia still had that smirk on her face as Ranma warily took it.
Magno answered, "You've been reassigned to…"
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The Reg System…
'Here? I have to work here?' Ranma thought to himself as he saw where he had been placed. It was the supply depot where the weaponry for the Dreads was kept. Most of the women there were dressed in waitress outfits. The only one who wasn't was an older woman who seemed to be in charge. That was Gascogne and she was in charge of all the Dread supplies.
"Hmm?" Gascogne blinked as she looked up to see Ranma. A smile overcame her face. "Ah, the new arrival is here. Girls what's our motto here?"
"Smile, smile!" the supply girls smiled with a uniform wave.
Ranma felt a headache coming on. However, he didn't get much time to complain about it. Gascogne had already taken his arm and dragged him off.
"If you're going to work here then you'll have to look the part," Gascogne explained. She reached some storage lockers and pulled out a bundle and handed it to Ranma. "Here. This will be your uniform while you're with us D-boy."
"D-boy?" Ranma blinked. That was a new name for him.
"You call yourself Decade in that armor don't you?" asked Gascogne. Getting a nod, she continued. "Well D is for Decade. And Boy is for obvious reasons. Now, go get dressed."
"Uhh…I…sure," Ranma gulped. No sense in arguing with this lady. She was being nice anyway and didn't give him much reason to be a jerk towards her like he was with Meia.
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"WHY THE HELL AM I WEARING A SKIRT!?" Ranma yelled out in anger and humiliation. He'd been forced into a uniform like the girls. On a female form it would look attractive, but currently…use your imagination.
"You gotta wear the uniform, and remember our motto," Gascogne said.
"Smile, smile!" the girls chorused.
"But I'm a guy and-"
SPLASH!
"Now, it looks cute on you," said Gascogne as she put down the now empty glass.
Ranma-chan sputtered. She muttered "I hate you…" She would just have to get used to wearing the frilly uniform. He'd worn worse in the past. This was nothing special. At least it didn't reveal too much.
"Remember to smile," Gascogne reminded.
Ranma-chan put on a strained and forced smile. This was definitely going to be a LONG assignment.
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As Meia sat in the Jacuzzi, she smiled widely. With her in the large tub was Dita, Jura and Barnette.
"You seem oddly happy," said Jura. "Did something happen?"
"Oh yeah…something good," said Meia with a relaxed smile.
"I haven't seen Mr. Alien around," Dita pondered. "I wonder where he went."
"Who cares?" Barnette sighed as she sank in the water. "I just want to enjoy the water."
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Working in the Reg System wasn't the worst job Ranma-chan ever had. At the moment she was delegated to the small jobs like stacking ammo cases and mopping floors since she was the new girl. She didn't mind really. The other supply girls were nice and didn't mind having her around, but being a girl at the moment might have had something to do with that. Gascogne (or Ms. Gasco, a name she hated) was pretty cool in her opinion too. The muscular woman always treated her fairly despite her gender at the moment. During some of their free times, she attempted to teach Ranma-chan cards, which Ranma-chan proved as terrible as ever. Gascogne had never gone up against such an easy opponent before. She had to admit that Ranma-chan could cheat with the best of them though.
Ranma-chan had to sit out some battles, but she did get to sit in on the supply ships as they restocked Dreads that were taking on the odd bunches of Cube Fighters and Octo-Fighters. It made Ranma-chan tense but she took it like a woman and smiled through it like the rest of the Stagehands. Gascogne did say that if the battle got really bad, she kept the Vanguard Decade stocked in case it was needed. That made the redhead feel better.
At one point, Gascogne and Ranma-chan were sharing a coffee in one of their bonding moments over cards.
"So what's Mejele like?" Ranma-chan asked. "I mean, I've got a pretty good picture of Tarak from Bart and Duelo, but I never got the chance to ask Dita or any of the other girls about Mejele."
"Well, it's definitely not like Tarak," Gascogne shrugged. She pulled out a small device and a green planet appeared in a hologram. "This is Mejele. On the outside it looks like a pretty nice place. However, it's anything but pleasant. The people constantly waste resources on trivial pursuits like who has the better garden or the nicer house. It's ridiculous in my opinion."
"No kidding," Ranma-chan snorted. She never got the reason why some girls worked so hard on looking pretty. Sure pride was one thing, but there was such a thing as taking it too far. Not that she could talk.
"These contests usually take priority over what needs doing," Gascogne sighed. "At one point it got so bad an entire residential district had to be shut down. Our captain lived there and that's when she started the whole pirate gig. It worked great for a lot of us who didn't have a home anymore. We all work hard, but we all get the rewards too."
"Amen," Ranma-chan sighed. "My old man always made me work hard or used me for some stupid reason so he could get something for free while I either had to work my butt off or got in trouble."
"Sounds like a piece of work," admitted Gascogne. She guessed that this 'old man' of Ranma-chan's was a parent of some kind.
"Oh, he is and he's a big lazy bum who takes the easy way out. Sold me out so he could fill his big fat stomach! Stupid panda!"
"So, you decided to be a space traveler to get away from him," said Gascogne.
"Let's just say I had enough and the rest is history," said Ranma-chan. "Still being part of this crew…it feels like family." She smiled.
"Yeah, we are a big family, aren't we? The captain looks out for us and we do our best to help her since she's done so much for us," said Gascogne. "So, I heard that those cards you have got a story behind them. Mind sharing one?"
"Sure," Ranma-chan shrugged as she drew out the Ride Booker. Pulling out the Kamen rider cards, she flipped through them until she landed on Faiz. "Okay, I had ended up on this planet where the people were splitting off in two different strains of evolution, human like us, and Orphenochs…"
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Dita was skipping towards Registry. When she heard Ranma was being assigned there, she got to work in making her friend a delicious bento. Ranma probably needed his strength if he needed to work there.
"Mr. Alien!" Dita sang out as she looked for her friend. "Where are you? I made you lunch again!"
Turning a corner, she saw Ranma-chan talking with Gascogne at one of their break tables. Smiling brightly, she began waving wildly as she called out, "Ms. Alien!"
As she was running closer, there was a snapping noise. One of the restraints that kept the missiles stacked broke. With a metal clank, one of the missiles began rolling down the stack. Dita looked up to see what the noise was and her eyes widened in shock when she saw the missile coming down towards her.
"AHHHHHH!!" she screamed.
"DITA!!" Ranma-chan cried, racing from the chair towards his redheaded friend. Gascogne gasped in shock, way too slow to do anything.
Dita closed her eyes and prepared for a hit like she never had before. Of course, she was a little surprised when it never came. Instead, she opened her eyes and gasped when she saw what happened. Ranam-chan was pressing her back against the missile to keep it from rolling any farther and even lifting the large explosive so to keep it from hitting Dita. Her face was turning red from the exertion and she was trembling fiercely from both strain and pain.
"Ms. Alien!" Dita gasped.
"D-girl!" cried Gascogne.
"Move! I can't hold it!" Ranma-chan snapped. Gascogne reacted quickly and yanked Dita out of the way, allowing Ranma-chan to leap up and let the missile hit the ground with a metal clang. The pigtailed girl landed on the ground and panted, trying to ignore the pain in her back from the impact. It was like fighting the Orochi in Ryuzengawa again.
"Ms. Alien!" Dita cried as she ran to her friend and checked her for injuries. "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm…fine," Ranma-chan panted as she wiped sweat off of her brow.
"Regardless D-girl," Gascogne sighed. "I'd feel better if you had the doctor take a look at you. No one can take a hit like you just did and not have something to show for it."
"Fine…fine," Ranma-chan panted.
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"You don't seem to be injured," stated Duelo. "But I did manage to find some old scars. Care to tell me about them?"
"It's from my past and something I don't wanna talk about," said Ranma-chan. Those were the scars from the Neko-ken training. Just thinking about it caused her to shiver.
"I should suggest you take a rest from working," said Duelo. "But from what I can see all you need is just a day of rest."
He'd heard about Ranma-chan's heroic feet. A normal person would not be able to move so fast or stop that missile like Ranma-chan had. It was simply amazing how someone like Ranma could become so strong and fast.
"Well, I don't need rest but thanks for the advice, doc," said Ranma-chan.
"Well, all I know is that Dita would be grateful."
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"And she saved my life! Ms. Alien's power really is amazing!" Dita gushed out.
"And she did this without the Decade suit? Now that's impressive," admitted Jura.
Dita was in the cafeteria with her fellow Dread pilots at the same table. Along with Jura was Barnette and Meia.
"Well, it just proves that we women are better since she was a girl in that form," said Barnette. She may not like men, but all she was doing was praising women in general. Ranma was still an oddity but seeing how well he moved at a she would just prove how women were better than men. Too bad she didn't know that Ranma was physically stronger in male form than she was in female form. However, she was faster in female form too.
"Well, Mr. Alien is amazing no matter what form he's in," Dita insisted.
BOOOOOOOOMM!!
"Wagh!" Jura cried as she was knocked onto the floor from the sudden lurching of the ship. Alarms began blaring as the crew began to scramble.
"Another attack," Meia hissed as she got up.
"More bad aliens!" Dita huffed angrily.
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"All right girls! You know the drill!" Gascogne called to her team. "And remember, no matter what!"
"SMILE! SMILE!" the girls cheered as they began getting orders of ammo ready for transport.
While they worked, Ranma-chan came running inside. She just finished tying her apron on as she looked around. Everyone was working and she was trying to find her spot to get working.
"I thought you were off for the day D-girl," Gascogne commented as she eyed the redhead.
"I'm not the kind who stands still," Ranma-chan shrugged. "Besides, I've taken worse hits."
"No doubt," Gascogne nodded, remembering the stories Ranma-chan told her about her adventures. "Okay, you stick with me. We have to get ready to move now!"
"Got it!" Ranma-chan smirked.
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The enemy was in a new configuration along with a new ship to help them. The mass of the force was the Cube Fighters, but the new ship was much different. It was a spherical mass of orbs which was behind the Cube Fighters. What the odd thing was that beyond the first shot, none of them were attacking. Bart tried evasive maneuvers, but the ships just kept themselves from losing the ship. It did give the Dreads enough time to get into position. Meie was confident that they could take down the enemy without Ranma's help.
"I wish Mr. Alien was here," pouted Dita.
"We don't need him…her…I mean!" Meia insisted. "We don't need Ranma's help!" She ordered, "Now, girls, get ready for battle!"
The battle began. Dreads and Cube Fighters flew at each other with weapons blazing. However the sphere ship didn't remain idle. From each of the orbs, a tendril extended, deflecting any of the weapons which was aimed at it. All in all, it appeared to become a giant sea urchin.
"How gross," Jura grimaced at the sight of the enemy.
"Just shoot it down!" Meia orderd of her team.
All the Dreads opened fire at the Urchin-Fighter, but the machine managed to evade it. It used its tendrils as a propeller to move at incredible speeds. It then retaliated with spines from its main body which collided with several Dreads. The machines were knocked out of commission while the others were in a hurry to get out of the way.
"We need Mr. Alien!" Dita cried out. She was fast enough to avoid these attacks!
"WE DON'T NEED HIS HELP!!" Meia snapped. "HE'S A MAN! MEN ARE THE ENEMY!"
"But what if he's a girl when he helps?" asked Dita. "Would it be okay then?"
-SUPPLY SHIP-
"This is getting serious," Ranma-chan frowned. "That thing is way faster than any of our Dreads and it can protect itself from any range."
"No kidding," Gascogne agreed as she restocked another Dread. "Think you know a way to get it?"
"I have a couple Riders which might be able to," Ranma-chan replied. "Caucasus, Blade, heck, even Ranki should be able to deal with it."
"So you think you can beat it?" Gascogne pressed.
"Sure do," Ranma-chan nodded. "Coz Ranma Saotome never loses." She then ran off to help the Dreads as Gascogne smiled.
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Ranma-chan got in her normal clothes. She didn't have time to get hot water. This was serious. Once she was in her Vanguard, she activated her belt.
"Henshin!"
Kamen Ride: Decade
The Vanguard was soon launched out of the ship and into space. From what he could see the enemy was using a large ship shaped like a sea urchin. "Hey, Dita!"
"Ms. Alien, you came!" Dita cheered happily.
"What are you doing here?" Meia asked.
"I came to help," Decade answered.
"We don't need help from-"
"A man? At the moment I'm all female so you can't argue about gender right now," said Decade.
Meia didn't like how Decade contradicted her, but the armored warrior was right. While Meia didn't like men helping her, she knew that they needed assistance. Having Decade assume female form was easier…almost.
"Fine. I hope you have a plan then," Meia snorted.
"Sure do," Decade snickered as she drew a card. This one depicted a silver-faced Kamen Rider with a horn and red eyes. "Henshin!"
Kamen Rider: Blade
A blue rectangular field flew out from the Vanguard Decade. It had an insect with a spade on its back on the front. The Vanguard just flew forward through the field, and emerged changed. The pain job had turned blue and the armor on the torso, arms, legs, and shoulders had turned silver. Spades were etched into the torso and shoulders. The head was mainly blue save for the face which was silver with a single horn. The Vanguard Decade had transformed into Vanguard Blade.
"Wow! Another alien form!" Dita gasped in delight.
The Urchin-Fighter wasn't impressed. Instead, it opened fire on the approaching Vanguard. Its spines cut through space as they aimed to destroy the new machine. Inside her machine, Decade-Blade snickered as she drew a new card and slipped it into her Decadriver.
Attack Ride: Metal
The entire machine suddenly turned monochrome as the spines hit. To the surprise of Meia and Dita, the spines just bounced off the hull or exploded harmlessly. No damage was done to the Vanguard Blade.
"My turn," Decade-Blade replied, drawing a new card.
Attack Ride: Mach
The Vanguard Blade suddenly sped up to a speed even the Urchin-Fighter couldn't match. Before it could attack again, the Vanguard Blade was already within striking range. Inside of it, Decade slipped in another card.
Attack Ride: Beat
The Vanguard Blade reared back a glowing fist and punch at the enemy ship. The fist impacted against it and crippled several of the tentacles from the force of the blow. The Urchin-Fighter immediately used its tentacles to speed away while using spines to shoot the Vanguard Blade away.
"So you wanna play rough eh?" Decade-Blade frowned. She drew a new card depicting both Blade and a large sword. "I'm game then."
Meanwhile, Meia was speeding towards the fight between Decade and the enemy. She wasn't about to stand by and let someone else fight for her. No way. That wasn't her style. Hitting the acceleration, she sped faster towards the fight. of course, Duta was close behind in her own Dread.
"Ms. Alien! Partner up with me again!" she cried, hoping to destroy the bad alien like she and her friend did last time.
"Here goes," Decade-Blade spoke as she slipped the card into the Decadriver and activated it.
Final Form Ride: Bl-Bl-Bl-Blade
The transformation seemed odd. On the back of the Vanguard a panel with a spade symbol on it formed and then red cards fanned out. The Vanguard's arms and head vanished into the body and then the body twisted around so that the spot where the head was now connected to the legs, which turned at a 90 degree angle. The Vanguard's sword then joined with the legs, which gained bladed edges as the sword became a tip. It also began to grow bigger until it matched the size of a Dread. Anyone seeing this would just see a large floating sword.
Suddenly, Meia's Dread went into autopilot. She tried to get it back under control but it was beyond her capabilities. As it flew closer to the weapon, it began to transform. Pieces and sections reconfigured to form into a humanoid body with red eyes, a single horn, and spade markings. Dread Blade.
Dread Blade flew up to the Vanguard Blade Blade and gripped its handle, wielding the weapon for itself. Still, Meia finally got control of the device once the two were connected. Of course, she was getting new readouts and data on her new Dread's form and weapon.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Meia shrieked at Blade. "I DIDN'T WANT TO PAIR UP WITH YOU!"
"Not exactly thrilled myself," Decade-Blade sighed. "The point is that we did pair off and we have to deal with it." She then drew a gold card with a spade symbol on it. "Deal with it for a little longer and then we can separate."
Final Attack Ride: Bl-Bl-Bl-Blade
Dread Blade gripped the sword as the spade marking began to shine with electric light. The voltage traveled through the blade, sparking in the blackness of space. Although Meia hated the thought of partnering up with that showoff Decade, male or female, she knew that she couldn't waste this chance. Controlling the arms of her Dread, Meia raised the huge sword up as the voltage grew to a new level. Then with a battle cry, she slashed down, slicing the Urchin-Fighter down the middle. Electric voltage flew away from the attack, frying the Urchin-Fighter before forcing the two halves to explode.
"Finally," Meia sighed as she tossed the Vanguard Blade Blade away, allowing it to shrink down and transform into Vanguard Blade again. Her own machine transformed back into a regular Dread again. "Don't do that to me again," she frowned deeply at the armored figure.
"I didn't choose you," Decade-Blade huffed.
"Awww! I wanted to share the Alien Power again," Dita pouted sadly.
"Next time, Dita," said Ranma-chan after banishing her armor. "Next time."
Jura was upset since she didn't get a chance to show off her elegance along Decade…but there was always next time, right?
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The Dreads returned to the ship and everyone departed from their respective machines. Parfet was instantly on the Vanguard Decade, trying to figure out how it changed. She had previously asked Ranma-chan several times why it changed all the time, but Ranma-chan had just said that it always did that. Now the female engineer was on a quest to try and figure out just how it changed forms so many times. Well, next to her quest to find how the Dreads changed with Decade's forms anyway.
As Ranma-chan was stretching to get the stiffness out of her shoulders, she noticed Meia stepping up to her, "Yes?"
"If you ever force that change to happen to my Dread without my permission, I will personally throw you out of the airlock!" Meia snapped before she turned on her heel and walked away.
"You're welcome for the help!" Ranma-chan waved to the departing Dread captain.
"Ms. Alien!" Dita cried as she ran over to her otherworldly friend. "Promise me that you'll partner up with me next time!"
"Huh?" Ranma-chan blinked.
"Oh no you don't!" Jura frowned as she grabbed Ranma-chan's arm. "You and Meia had your turns. It's my turn next!"
"But Ms. Alien partnered up with me first!" Dita cried as she got Ranma-chan's other arm. "We're friends so I should partner up with her next!"
"This is getting too much like home," Ranma-chan sighed between the two tugging women. At least these two were nicer about it.
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Later, Gascogne was playing some solitaire when she spied Ranma in male form walking into the registry. He was wearing the uniform for the stagehands, but had modified it for a man. Most notably, pants and a better fitting shirt. All in all, he looked like a waiter as compared to the regular uniform's waitresses. The muscular woman had to admit that the man knew his way around threadwork. It looked great on him. For some reason though, she found the sight interesting to look at.
"Welcome back D-boy," Gascogne smiled as she took in the sight. "Didn't think we'd see you around here anymore after the captain cleared you for combat again."
"Well, I needed something to do," Ranma shrugged. "Next to training, eating, fighting, and sleeping I didn't have much else to occupy myself. So I decided why not hang out here a little more. If it's all the same to you though, I'd prefer to try out my guy form here."
"Don't matter to me," Gascogne shrugged. "I just hope your male form can put up as well as your female form did."
"That I can guarantee Miss Gasco," Ranma laughed, making the older woman snort.
"Then get to work D-boy, you know what needs doing," Gascogne laughed. "And watch it with the name. It's Gascogne."
"Just like my name's Ranma," the pigtailed boy grinned. "Oh, and don't forget the motto, right? Smile! Smile!"
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